Some interesting historical bits for study that may be helpful to have at hand:

http://www.theoldtimegospel.org/about/akjvb6.html

http://www.theoldtimegospel.org/about/akjvb.html

http://www.theoldtimegospel.org/index.html
 

(The short by insightful article below was found there.)

NO BREATH, NO LIFE (by Horatius Bonar)

"And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them,
and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them."

"Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin
formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them."

This scene has two aspects (contains an event and a truth), the
prophetical, which specially points to Israel's restoration in the
latter day; the spiritual, pointing to the case of individual souls,
or churches or congregations. There are four stages presented to us-
(1.)   the bone-heaps in the valley, "very dry;"
(2.)   the gathering and re-construction of these bones;
(3.)   the clothing with flesh, sinews, and skin;
(4.)   the infusion of breath or life.

...

I.   Our creed may be sound, and yet we may not be Christians.
Balaam's creed seems to have been sound; also that of Judas and Demas.
It may be the creed of apostles and reformers, the creed of the Synod
of Dort, or the Assembly of Westminster; yet all within may be wrong.
It will form part of the bones, or the sinews, or the flesh; but that
is all. No, its soundness may be the occasion of serious
self-deception; we may mistake orthodoxy for life- the correctness of
our confession of faith for the "breath." An inanimate, unproductive
creed, what will it do for you in the day of the Lord? What will it do
for you now? Does it give you real peace- real liberty- real
fellowship with God?

II.   Our religion may be externally complete, and yet we may not be
Christians. By religion I mean all that pertains to the worship and
service of God, private or public; our praises, our prayers, our
sanctuary services, our family worship. What are all these without the
inward breath? What is routine without life? Mechanical religion may
do for the gods of Greece and Rome, but not for the living and true
God. Mechanical religion may do for those who fancy that religious
performances, or works done, or money paid, in order to ward off
divine anger, and persuade God to keep them out of hell; but not for
those who know that they are the channels of fellowship with God.

Your sanctuary attendance may be regular and reverent; but what if
there be no breath in it? Your prayers and praises may be punctual and
exceptional, but what if there be no breath in them? Will God accept
them? Will they satisfy you? Will they make you happy? Will they not
be irksome and intolerable? And the more you multiply them, the more
intolerable.

III.   Our good works may be numerous and praiseworthy, yet we may not
be Christians. It is not the work that makes the Christian, but the
Christian that makes the work. This is a day of good works; of
benevolent schemes; of societies great and small; of organizations for
the relief of the poor, and the reformation of the wicked. They who
conduct them may be earnest and self-denying men. But is the breath
there? They often wonder why so much should be done with so little
fruit.

But is there not a cause? Is there breath, life, in all this? Can
statues, or machines, or steam-engines do the work of the living God?
No; it is life that does real work; it is life that is successful; it
is life that God honors, and by which He works. Let us see that in
doing Christian work, we ourselves are Christians; else we shall be
but Noah's carpenters after all. We may do many good works, and yet
not be Christians. Many shall come in that day, saying, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in your name. But the answer is, "I never knew
you."

IV.   Our life may be exemplary, and yet we may not be Christians.
There may be bones, and sinews, and flesh, and yet no breath, no life!
There are many who mistake a fair external deportment for Christian
life. A man may be so like a Christian that another could not suppose
that there was anything wrong; and yet there might be no breath!  ...